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Interpretation by SPC and SPP on Several Issues of Concrete
Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases of Infringing
Intellectual Property
Full text
To punish criminal acts of infringing on intellectual property in accordance with law and to maintain the order of the socialist market economy, some concrete problems regarding law application to handling criminal cases involving infringement on intellectual property are hereby interpreted as follows in accordance with applicable provisions of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China ("the Criminal Law"):
Article 1 Using an identical trademark on the same merchandise without permission of its registered owner in any of the following circumstances falls under the definition of "the circumstances are serious" stipulated in Article 213 of the Criminal Law and shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined for committing the crime of forging registered trademarks:
(1) the amount of illegal business volume being more than RMB 50,000 or that of illegal gains being more than RMB 30,000;
(2) forging more than two registered trademarks, the amount of illegal business volume being more than RMB 30,000 or that of illegal gains being more than RMB 20,000;
(3) other circumstances of a serious nature.
Whoever having any of the following acts that falls under the definition of "the circumstances are especially serious" stipulated in Article 213 of the Criminal Law shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined for committing the crime of forging registered trademarks:
(1) the amount of illegal business volume being more than RMB 250,000 or that of illegal gains being more than RMB 150,000;
(2) forging more than two registered trademarks, the amount of illegal business volume being more than RMB 150,000 or that of illegal gains being more than RMB 100,000;
(3) other circumstances of an especially serious nature.
Article 2 Whoever knowingly sells commodities bearing counterfeited registered trademarks, if the amount of sales is more than RMB 50,000, and thus falls under the definition of "the amount of sales is relatively large" stipulated in Article 214 of the Criminal Law shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined for committing the crime of selling commodities bearing counterfeited registered trademarks.
Whoever selling such commodities of more than RMB 250,000 in value falls under the definition of "the amount of sales is huge" stipulated in Article 214 of the Criminal Law and shall be sentenced to
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fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined for the crime of selling commodities bearing counterfeited registered trademarks.
Article 3 Whoever forges or makes representations of another person's registered trademarks without authorization of the person or sells such representations in any of the following circumstances and thus falls under the definition of "the circumstances are serious" stipulated in Article 215 of the Criminal Law shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance and shall also, or shall only, be fined for committing the crime of illegally making registered trademarks and selling illegally-made registered trademarks:
(1) the amount of the representations of other person's registered trademarks forged or made without authorization or that of the sold representations of other person's registered trademarks forged or made without authorization being more than 20,000 copies, or the amount of illegal business volume being more than RMB 50,000, or the amount of illegal gains being more than RMB 30,000;
(2) the amount of the representations of other person's registered trademarks forged or made without authorization or that of the sold representations of more than two of other person's registered trademarks forged or made without authorization being more than 10,000 copies, or the amount of illegal business volume being more than RMB 30,000, or the amount of illegal gains being more than RMB 20,000;
(3) other circumstances of a serious nature.
Whoever having any of the following acts that falls under the definition of "circumstances of an especially serious nature" stipulated in Article 215 of the Criminal Law shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined for committing the crime of illegally making registered trademarks and selling illegally-made registered trademarks:
(1) the amount of the representations of other person's registered trademarks forged or made without authorization or that of the sold representations of other person's registered trademarks forged or made without authorization being more than 100,000 copies, or the amount of illegal business volume being more than RMB 250,000, or the amount of illegal gains being more than RMB 150,000;
(2) the amount of the representations of other person's registered trademarks forged or made without authorization or that of the sold representations of more than two of other person's registered trademarks forged or made without authorization being more than 50,000 copies, or the amount of illegal business volume being more than RMB 150,000, or the amount of illegal gains being more than RMB 100,000;
(3) other circumstances of an especially serious nature.
Article 4 Whoever counterfeits the patent of another person in any of the following circumstances and thus falls under the definition of "the circumstances are serious" stipulated in Article 216 of the Criminal Law shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined for committing the crime of counterfeiting the patent of another person:
(1) the amount of illegal business volume being more than RMB 200,000 or that of illegal gains
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being more than RMB 100,000; (2) causing direct economic loss of more than RMB 500,000 to the owner of patent; (3) counterfeiting more than two patents, the amount of illegal business volume being more than
RMB 100,000 or that of illegal gains being more than RMB 50,000; (4) other circumstances of a serious nature.
Article 5 Whoever, for the purpose of making profits, commits any of the acts of infringement on copyright mentioned in Article 217 of the Criminal Law, if the amount of illegal gains is more than RMB 30,000, and thus falls under the definition of "the amount of illegal gains is relatively large"; or whoever has any of the following acts and thus falls under the definition of "there are other serious circumstances" shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined for committing the crime of infringing on copyright:
(1) the amount of illegal business volume being more than RMB 50,000; (2) reproducing and distributing more than 1,000 illegal copies of a written work, musical work,
motion picture, television program or other visual works, computer software or other works without permission of the copyright owner;
(3) other circumstances of a serious nature.
Whoever, for the purpose of making profits, commits any of the acts of infringement on copyright mentioned in Article 217 of the Criminal Law, if the amount of illegal gains is more than RMB 150,000, and thus falls under the definition of "the amount of illegal gains is huge"; or whoever has any of the following acts and thus falls under the definition of "there are other especially serious circumstances" shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined for committing the crime of infringing on copyright:
(1) the amount of illegal business volume being more than RMB 250,000; (2) reproducing and distributing more than 5,000 illegal copies of a written work, musical work,
motion picture, television program or other visual works, computer software or other works without permission of the copyright owner;
(3) other circumstances of an especially serious nature.
Article 6 Whoever, for the purpose of making profits, commits any of the acts stipulated in Article 218 of the Criminal Law, if the amount of illegal gains is more than RMB 100,000, and thus falls under the definition of "the amount of illegal gains is huge" shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined for committing the crime of selling works reproduced by infringing on the copyright:
Article 7 Whoever commits any of the acts stipulated in Article 219 of the Criminal Law to cause losses of more than RMB 500,000 to the obligee of business secrets and thus falls under the definition of "causing heavy losses to the obligee of business secrets" shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined for committing the crime of infringing on business secrets.
Whoever causes losses of more than RMB 2.5 million to the obligee of business secrets and thus falls under the definition of "the consequences are especially serious" stipulated in Article 219 of the Criminal Law shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven
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years and shall also be fined for committing the crime of infringing on business secrets.
Article 8 "Identical trademarks" as stipulated in Article 213 of the Criminal Law refers to the trademarks either identical to the registered trademarks infringed on, or showing no notable visual difference from the trademarks infringed on and thus being misleading to the public.
"Use" as stipulated in Article 213 of the Criminal Law refers to such acts as applying registered trademarks or counterfeited registered trademarks to commodities, commodity packing and containers, commodity user guides and commodity transaction documents, or using registered trademarks or counterfeited registered trademarks for advertisement, publicity, exhibitions and other business activities.
Article 9 "Amount of sales" as stipulated in Article 214 of the Criminal Law refers to all the illegal incomes gained or ought to be gained by selling commodities bearing counterfeited registered trademarks.
Any of the following circumstances shall be regarded as falling under the definition of "knowingly" stipulated in Article 214 of the Criminal Law:
(1) Knowing that the registered trademarks on the commodities that he/she sells have been altered, replaced or covered;
(2) Selling the same commodities for which one has already been given administrative penalty or has borne civil responsibilities for selling commodities bearing counterfeited registered trademarks;
(3) Counterfeiting or altering the authorization documents of the registrant or knowing such documents have been counterfeited or altered;
(4) Other circumstances in which the fact that the registered trademarks borne by the commodities are counterfeited is known.
Article 10 Any of the following acts falls under the definition of "counterfeiting patent of another person" stipulated in Article 216 of the Criminal Law:
(1) Citing patent number on the commodities or the packing of the commodities one produces or sells without permission of the owner of the patent;
(2) Citing patent number in advertisement or other publicity materials without permission of the owner of the patent so as to make people think that the involved technology is the patented technology of another person;
(3) Citing patent number in contract without permission of the owner of the patent so as to make people think that the involved technology in the contract is the patented technology of another person;
(4) Counterfeiting or altering the patent certificates, patent documents or patent application documents of another person.
Article 11 The circumstances of charging directly or indirectly by such means as publishing paid advertisement fall under the definition of "for the purpose of making profits" stipulated in Article 217 of the Criminal Law.
"Without permission of the copyright owner" as stipulated in Article 217 of the Criminal Law refers to the
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circumstances where authorization of the copyright owner is not obtained, the authorization documents of the copyright owner are altered or the authorization scope is exceeded.
Distributing a written work, musical work, motion picture, television program or other visual works, computer software or other works to the public by information network falls under the definition of "reproducing and distributing" stipulated in Article 217 of the Criminal Law.
Article 12 "Illegal business volume" as stipulated in the Interpretation refers to the value of the products produced, stored, transported and sold by the doer in the course of infringing on intellectual property. Value of the products produced by infringing on intellectual property shall be computed according to the prices at which such products are actually sold. Value of the products produced by infringing on intellectual property produced, stored, transported, and those not sold shall be computed according to the labeled prices or the actual prices found to be sold at after investigation. Value of the products produced by infringing on intellectual property without labeled prices or whose actual prices are impossible to be ascertained shall be computed according the middle market prices of such products.
Values of illegal business volume, illegal gains and amount of sales shall be computed cumulatively in cases of repeatedly infringing on intellectual property where such acts have not yet been given administrative penalty or have not so far initiated criminal procedures.
"Copies" as stipulated in Article 3 of the Interpretation refers to one piece of representation of the complete logo of the trademark.
Article 13 Committing the crime of counterfeited registered trademarks stipulated in Article 213 of the Criminal Law while selling commodities bearing such counterfeited registered trademarks and thus constituting a crime shall be convicted and punished in accordance with provisions of Article 213 of the Criminal Law for committing the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks.
To whoever that commits the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks stipulated in Article 213 of the Criminal Law while knowingly selling commodities bearing registered trademarks counterfeited by another person and thus constituting a crime, a combined punishment for several crimes shall be applied.
Article 14 Committing the crime of infringing on copyright stipulated in Article 217 of the Criminal Law while selling commodities produced by infringing on copyright and thus constituting a crime shall be convicted and punished in accordance with provisions of Article 217 of the Criminal Law for committing the crime of infringing on copyright.
To whoever that commits the crime of infringing on copyright stipulated in Article 217 of the Criminal Law while knowingly selling works reproduced by infringing on the copyright and thus constituting a crime, a combined punishment for several crimes shall be applied.
Article 15 Where a unit commits any of the crimes stipulated in the Articles 213 through 219 of the Criminal Law, it shall be convicted and sentenced according to the criteria that are as three times higher as those for convicting and sentencing individuals committing same crimes according to the
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Interpretation.
Article 16 Whoever knowingly provides loans, funds, bank accounts, invoices, certificates, licenses, production and operation places, as well as facilities and assistance in producing, storing and import-export agency services shall be deemed an accomplice in the crime of infringing on intellectual property.
Article 17 Should discrepancies arise between the Interpretation and other legal interpretations promulgated previously regarding infringement on intellectual property, the previously promulgated interpretations shall not be applied after the Interpretation goes into effect.
最高人民法院、最高人民检察院公告
《最高人民法院、最高人民检察院关于办理侵犯知识产权刑事案件具体应用法律若干问题的解释》已于2004年11月2日由最高人民法院审判委员会第1331 次会议、2004年11月11日由最高人民检察院第十届检察委员会第28次会议通过，现予公布，自2004年12月22日起施行。 二00四年十二月八日
最 高人民法院、最高人民检察院关于办理
侵犯知识产权刑事案件具体应用法律若 干问题的解释
（2004年11月2日最高人民法院审判委员会第1331次 会议、2004年11月11日最高人民检察院第十届检察委员会第28次会议通过 法释[2004]19号）
为依法惩治侵犯知识产权犯 罪活动，维护社会主义市场经济秩序，根据刑法有关规定，现就办理侵犯知识产权刑事案件具体应用法律的若干问题解释如下：
第一条 未经注册商标所有人许可，在同一种商品上使用与其注 册商标相同的商标，具有下列情形之一的，属于刑法第二百一十三条规定的“情节严重”，应当以假冒注册商标罪判处三年以下有期徒刑或者拘役，并处或者单处罚 金： （一）非法经营数额在五万元以上或者违法所得数额在三万元以上的； （二）假冒两种以上注册商标，非法经营数额在三万元以上或 者违法所得数额在二万元以上的； （三）其他情节严重的情形。 具有下列情形之一的，属于刑法第二百一十三条规定的“情节特别严 重”，应当以假冒注册商标罪判处三年以上七年以下有期徒刑，并处罚金： （一）非法经营数额在二十五万元以上或者违法所得数额在十五万元以上 的； （二）假冒两种以上注册商标，非法经营数额在十五万元以上或者违法所得数额在十万元以上的； （三）其他情节特别严重的情形。
第二条 销售明知是假冒注册商标的商品，销售金额在五万元 以上的，属于刑法第二百一十四条规定的“数额较大”，应当以销售假冒注册商标的商品罪判处三年以下有期徒刑或者拘役，并处或者单处罚金。 销售 金额在二十五万元以上的，属于刑法第二百一十四条规定的“数额巨大”，应当以销售假冒注册商标的商品罪判处三年以上七年以下有期徒刑，并处罚金。
第三条 伪造、擅自制造他人注册商标标识或者销售伪造、擅 自制造的注册商标标识，具有下列情形之一的，属于刑法第二百一十五条规定的“情节严重”，应当以非法制造、销售非法制造的注册商标标识罪判处三年以下有期 徒刑、拘役或者管制，并处或者单处罚金： （一）伪造、擅自制造或者销售伪造、擅自制造的注册商标标识数量在二万件以上，或者非法经营数额在五 万元以上，或者违法所得数额在三万元以上的； （二）伪造、擅自制造或者销售伪造、擅自制造两种以上注册商标标识数量在一万件以上，或者非法经 营数额在三万元以上，或者违法所得数额在二万元以上的； （三）其他情节严重的情形。 具有下列情形之一的，属于刑法第二百一十五条 规定的“情节特别严重”，应当以非法制造、销售非法制造的注册商标标识罪判处三年以上七年以下有期徒刑，并处罚金： （一）伪造、擅自制造或者 销售伪造、擅自制造的注册商标标识数量在十万件以上，或者非法经营数额在二十五万元以上，或者违法所得数额在十五万元以上的； （二）伪造、擅 自制造或者销售伪造、擅自制造两种以上注册商标标识数量在五万件以上，或者非法经营数额在十五万元以上，或者违法所得数额在十万元以上的； （三）其他情节特别严重的情形。
第四条 假冒他人专利，具有下列情形之一的，属于刑法第二百一十六条规定的“情节严重”，应当以假冒专利罪判处三年以下有期徒刑或者拘役，并处或者单处罚金： （一）非法经营数额在二十万元以上或者违法所得数额在十万元以上的； （二）给专利权人造成直接经济损失五十万元以上的； （三） 假冒两项以上他人专利，非法经营数额在十万元以上或者违法所得数额在五万元以上的； （四）其他情节严重的情形。
第五条 以营利为目的，实施刑法第二百一十七条所列侵犯著作 权行为之一，违法所得数额在三万元以上的，属于“违法所得数额较大”；具有下列情形之一的，属于“有其他严重情节”，应当以侵犯著作权罪判处三年以下有期 徒刑或者拘役，并处或者单处罚金： （一）非法经营数额在五万元以上的； （二）未经著作权人许可，复制发行其文字作品、音乐、电 影、电视、录像作品、计算机软件及其他作品，复制品数量合计在一千张（份）以上的； （三）其他严重情节的情形。 以营利为目的，实 施刑法第二百一十七条所列侵犯著作权行为之一，违法所得数额在十五万元以上的，属于“违法所得数额巨大”；具有下列情形之一的，属于“有其他特别严重情 节”，应当以侵犯著作权罪判处三年以上七年以下有期徒刑，并处罚金： （一）非法经营数额在二十五万元以上的； （二）未经著作权人 许可，复制发行其文字作品、音乐、电影、电视、录像作品、计算机软件及其他作品，复制品数量合计在五千张（份）以上的； （三）其他特别严重情 节的情形。
第六条 以营利为目 的，实施刑法第二百一十八条规定的行为，违法所得数额在十万元以上的，属于“违法所得数额巨大”，应当以销售侵权复制品罪判处三年以下有期徒刑或者拘役，